The Relationship between the Big Five Personality Traits and Academic Achievement

In order to predict academic achievement on the ba- sis of personality traits, 200 junior high school stu- dents (100 female, 100 male), chosen by multistage sam- pling method, completed the Five Factor Personality In- ventory (NEO-FFI); (Costa & McCare, 1992). Their aca- demic achievement was assessed through national high school entrance exam scores. Academic achievement had a positive correlation with extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, a negative correlation with neuroticism, and no correlation with openness to experience. Stepwise regression analysis showed that only neuroticism and con- scientiousness, in two steps, could explain 9% of variance in academic achievement. The results are discussed in terms of the trait theory of personality.